HK1189766A1 - Impregnation type puffed food and method for producing same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an impregnation type puffed food in which an oil and fat confectionery material is impregnated into a food material to be impregnated, wherein the food material to be impregnated is a puffed confectionery having a surface thereof coated with a saccharide layer. Such an impregnation type puffed food has a novel texture, which is a “crunchy” hard texture combined with a texture of an oil and fat confectionery melting out of the inside.

Description

Impregnated puffed food and method for producing same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an impregnated puffed food containing an oil-and-fat snack material in a puffed snack and a method for producing the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a food product in which a fat-based confectionery material is impregnated into a puffed confectionery having a shape with a thickness whose surface is coated, and a method for producing the same.

Background

Conventionally, various proposals have been made on a food obtained by impregnating a porous food with a liquid food, and a method for producing the same (patent documents 1 to 3).

A product in which a porous food is impregnated with a fat or oil confectionery material is commonly on the market. In particular, there are various products for puffed confectionery impregnated with chocolate.

When observing the interior of a chocolate-impregnated puffed snack product which is common in the market at present, the part of the puffed snack which is not impregnated with chocolate is more. Most of the existing commodities are puffed foods with the maximum diameter of 25-30 mm, the thickness of about 10mm and the unique crispy and light mouthfeel of snacks. Although some products have a puffed snack in which chocolate is fully impregnated into the center portion, the product has a unique texture that is about 25mm in maximum diameter and about 5mm in thickness, and is "hard, crisp" and slightly hard.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: international publication No. 97/47207

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2004-254529

Patent document 3: international publication No. 2010/114026

Patent document 4: japanese Utility model registration No. 3118586

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the above patent documents, porous food is exemplified as a large number of impregnated food materials. However, in the case of attempting to actually produce a puffed snack by using an industrial production line, it is difficult to impregnate chocolate into the interior of the puffed snack produced by extrusion-puffing under pressure and heat. The reason for this is presumed to be: the general expanded snack has a smooth outer skin and a separate void inside the expanded snack. Therefore, in order to impregnate the chocolate into the interior of the puffed snack, it is easy to select a shape in which a cavity is provided in the center portion to increase the surface area, or a shape in which a surface that is easy to impregnate, that is, a cross section that is cut after extrusion and expansion is widely provided, and the thickness of the outer skin portion that is difficult to impregnate is reduced. Therefore, the conventional commercial products are dependent on the shape and limited in texture.

On the other hand, in order to uniformly impregnate chocolate into the interior of a puffed snack, there have been proposed: a puffed snack in which a plurality of small holes are formed in a puffed snack, and the puffed snack is impregnated with chocolate and the chocolate is impregnated with the chocolate by centrifugal force (patent document 4). However, when the shape of the expanded snack is brittle or has a small size, the expanded snack collapses when small holes are formed, and the commercial value as a food material is impaired.

The purpose of the present invention is to obtain an impregnated puffed food having an unprecedented novel texture, which is obtained by impregnating an oil-and-fat confectionery material, that is, an impregnated puffed food obtained by impregnating an oil-and-fat confectionery material into a puffed confectionery having a texture that is brittle and melts well in the mouth.

Means for solving the problems

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that a snack obtained by coating a surface of a puffed snack with a sugar and then impregnating a fat-and-oil confectionery material into the coated puffed snack has both a "crispy" and hard texture and a texture in which the fat-and-oil confectionery is dissolved out. The present invention is an invention based on this finding, and features the following matters.

(1) An impregnated puffed food, wherein an oil and fat snack material is impregnated into an impregnated food material comprising a puffed snack whose surface is coated with a sugar layer.

(2) The impregnated puffed food according to (1), wherein the content of the fat-based confectionery material in the impregnated puffed food is 56 to 70% by weight.

(3) The impregnated puffed food according to (1) or (2), wherein the thickness between porous cross sections of the puffed snack is 15 to 25 mm.

(4) The impregnated puffed food according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the puffed snack contains 2.4 to 6.0 wt% of an edible oil or fat and 0.4 to 0.6 wt% of an emulsifier.

(5) The impregnated puffed food according to item (4), wherein the emulsifier is a higher fatty acid monoglyceride having an HLB of 4.0 to 5.0 and/or a sucrose fatty acid ester having an HLB of 10 to 12.

(6) The impregnated puffed food according to (4) or (5), wherein the edible oil or fat is palm oil, palm kernel oil, shortening, or a mixture thereof.

(7) The impregnated puffed food according to any one of (1) to (6), wherein the sugar layer contains sucrose, maltose, lactose, or a mixture thereof.

(8) The impregnated puffed food according to any one of (1) to (7), wherein the fat or oil confectionery material has a viscosity of 3000 to 15000 cps at 34 ℃.

(9) The impregnated puffed food according to any one of (1) to (8), wherein the fat-based snack material is chocolate.

(10) A method for producing an impregnated puffed food, comprising the following steps (a) to (c):

(a) a step of obtaining a puffed snack by discharging a raw material containing 40 to 80 wt% of wheat flour, 2.4 to 6.0 wt% of an edible oil or fat, and 0.4 to 0.6 wt% of an emulsifier by using a puffing machine (extruder),

(b) a step of spraying an aqueous solution containing at least one of sucrose, maltose and lactose onto the puffed snack, and then drying the sprayed puffed snack to obtain an impregnated food material, and then,

(c) and a step of impregnating the food material to be impregnated with the fat-based confectionery material.

(11) The production method according to (10), wherein the aqueous solution is 60 to 80 wt% of sucrose, 40 to 60 wt% of maltose, or 40 to 60 wt% of lactose.

(12) The production method according to (10) or (11), wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) and a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure.

(13) The production method according to any one of (10) to (12), wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure,

(c2) and a step wherein the impregnated food material is placed under pressure in a closed container while maintaining the state of being covered with the fat-based confectionery material, and then returned to atmospheric pressure.

(14) The production method according to any one of (10) to (12), wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure,

(c3) and a step wherein the impregnated food material is placed again under reduced pressure in the closed container while maintaining the state of being covered with the fat-based confectionery material, and then returned to atmospheric pressure.

(15) An impregnated puffed food obtained by the method of any one of (10) to (14).

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present invention, a puffed food having an unprecedented novel texture and impregnated with an oily confectionery material, that is, a food having an oily confectionery material impregnated into a puffed snack having a crispy texture and a good mouth-melt texture can be obtained.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a photograph showing a porous cross section of a puffed snack produced using a raw material containing 10 parts by weight of a crushed biscuit and 1.5 parts by weight of an edible oil or fat. (example 1, formulations 1 to 3)

FIG. 2 is a photograph showing a porous cross section of a puffed snack produced using a raw material containing 10 parts by weight of a crushed cake and 4.0 parts by weight of an edible oil or fat. (example 1, formulations 1 to 5)

FIG. 3 is a photograph showing a porous cross-section of a puffed snack produced using a raw material containing 5.71 wt% of an edible fat and oil and 0.49 wt% of an emulsifier (HLB 4.1). (example 2, formulation 2-2)

Fig. 4 is a photograph of a porous cross section of a puffed snack produced using a raw material containing 2.91 wt% of an edible fat and oil, 0.51 wt% of an emulsifier (HLB 4.1), and 0.01 wt% of an emulsifier (HLB 11). (example 2, formulations 2 to 6)

FIG. 5 is a photograph of a cut section of an impregnated puffed food having a fine powder content of 0 wt%, which is produced by an impregnation step in which a pressure treatment is performed after a pressure reduction. (example 5)

FIG. 6 is a photograph of a cut section of an impregnated puffed food product produced by an impregnation step using a reduced pressure treatment and having a fine powder content of 5 wt%. (example 5)

Detailed Description

In order to provide the impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment, first, an attempt is made to obtain a puffed snack having the following characteristics. Has a shape with a thickness between porous cross sections of 15mm or more; in order to improve the efficiency of impregnating the fat-based confectionery material into the interior, the fat-based confectionery material has an appearance with a large bubble size; the thickness of the bubble film is small to give a good melt in the mouth and a brittle texture when chewed.

The puffed snack has very crisp physical properties and shape. Therefore, when a manufacturing apparatus for impregnating the fatty confectionery material is charged, fine cracks or chips are generated, and fine powder is formed and mixed into the fatty confectionery material for impregnation. When the mixing amount of the above-mentioned fine powder is increased, it becomes a factor that inhibits the incorporation of the fat and oil confectionery material into the interior of the expanded confectionery, and improvement is required. A food obtained by impregnating an oil and fat confectionery material into an expanded confectionery is a high-quality food having a texture that is integral with the expanded confectionery and the oil and fat confectionery, but is hardly said to have a novel texture.

Therefore, the present inventors have attempted a coating process on the surface of a puffed snack in order to suppress the generation of fine powder and to form a novel texture while maintaining the texture and shape of the puffed snack. Generally, it is not an option to impregnate the fat-based confectionery material into the interior and then coat the surface of the fat-based confectionery material, because the impregnation efficiency is lowered. The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment will be described in more detail below.

The puffed snack in the present embodiment is a food having porous voids inside, and particularly refers to a snack puffed by cooking (heating cooking) with a puffing machine. Specifically, puffed snacks can be exemplified.

The expanded snack in this embodiment preferably has a shape having a thickness. Specifically, the thickness between the porous cross sections is more preferably 15 to 25mm, and still more preferably 16 to 20 mm. The porous cross section is a cross section obtained by cutting a material discharged from a puffing machine and puffed. The shape of the porous cross section is not limited, and examples thereof include: circular, elliptical, heart-shaped, star-shaped, triangular, quadrangular, other polygonal shapes, and the like. The expanded snack in the present embodiment can be formed into a shape having a four-cornered porous cross section, which is generally prone to be avoided, because the generation of fine powder in the impregnation step is suppressed by performing the coating process described later.

The expanded snack according to the present embodiment has both softness of bite when being bitten into the mouth and crumbling property of crumbling when being chewed. In order to obtain such a texture, it is preferable that the expanded snack have a large bubble size and a thin bubble film thickness. In general, when a puffed snack having a texture with large bubble sizes is desired, the film of bubbles becomes thick, and the snack becomes easily hard and brittle and has a hard and chewy texture. When a puffed snack having a texture in which the thickness of the cells is thin is desired, the size of the cells is reduced, and the texture is likely to be less likely to be crumbly.

In the puffed snack of the present embodiment, in order to provide the above texture, it is preferable to blend an edible oil and fat and an emulsifier with a raw material mainly composed of wheat flour. More specifically, it is preferable that the edible oil and fat is contained in an amount of 2.4 to 6.0 wt% and the emulsifier is contained in an amount of 0.4 to 0.6 wt% based on a raw material containing 40 to 80 wt% of wheat flour.

Examples of the edible oil and fat include 1 or 2 or more kinds selected from various vegetable oils and fats such as palm oil, palm kernel oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, soybean oil, rice oil, and cocoa butter, various animal oils and fats such as beef tallow, lard, fish oil, whale oil, and milk fat, and processed oils and fats obtained by subjecting the oils and fats to 1 or 2 or more kinds of treatment selected from hydrogenation, fractionation, and transesterification. In the expanded snack according to the present embodiment, palm oil, palm kernel oil, shortening, or a mixture thereof is preferably used, more preferably palm oil, shortening, or a mixture thereof is used, and most preferably shortening is used.

Examples of the emulsifier include: sucrose fatty acid ester, fatty acid glyceride, sorbitan fatty acid ester, higher fatty acid monoglyceride, lecithin, etc. In the expanded core of the present embodiment, a higher fatty acid monoglyceride or a mixture of a higher fatty acid monoglyceride and a sucrose fatty acid ester is preferably used as an emulsifier. The amount of the emulsifier is preferably 0.4 to 0.6% by weight of higher fatty acid monoglyceride or 0.01 to 0.1% by weight of fatty acid sucrose ester in the puffed snack. The preferred HLB value of the higher fatty acid monoglyceride is 4.0 to 5.0. The preferable HLB of the sucrose fatty acid ester is 10-12. As the fatty acid of the emulsifier, there may be mentioned: stearic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, and the like are not particularly limited as long as they are within the above HLB range.

The puffed snack in the present embodiment may contain a commonly used raw material in addition to the above wheat flour, edible fat and oil, and emulsifier. For example, cereal powders such as rye flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, corn flour, buckwheat flour, and rice flour, and saccharides such as granulated sugar, and the like, and the auxiliary materials for adjusting the flavor and color tone include: whole egg, egg white, dried whole egg, dried egg white, skimmed milk powder, cocoa powder, spice, pigment, etc.

The expanded snack in the present embodiment can be produced, for example, by the following method. The raw material is fed into the inlet of the puffing machine and discharged from the nozzle hole at the front end of the puffing machine, thereby obtaining a rope-like puffed snack material. The operation conditions of the puffing machine may be appropriately set depending on the machine used, and for example, when a biaxial puffing machine (TEM 50B model manufactured by toshiba corporation) is used, there are: the water addition amount is set to 2.5 to 4.0kg/hr, the screw rotation speed is set to 390 to 410rpm, and the internal pressure is set to 2 to 60kgf/cm²The material temperature is 167-170 ℃. The resulting expanded snack material is preferably cut into pieces of 15 to 25mm, more preferably 16 to 20mm, and allowed to cool until the material temperature reaches room temperature, thereby obtaining an expanded snack.

The impregnated food material in the present embodiment is a food material obtained by coating the surface of a puffed snack. The coating process may be, for example, a coating process using sugar, more specifically, a coating process using a candy solution, a coating process in which sugar crystals are attached to the surface, or the like. The material to be impregnated of the present embodiment is preferably a puffed snack subjected to a coating process in which sugar crystals are attached to the surface. By the above processing, not only a unique crispy and hard texture which cannot be obtained only in the case of a puffed snack can be imparted, but also generation of fine powder derived from the puffed snack, which causes a decrease in efficiency in the subsequent impregnation step, can be suppressed.

Examples of the sugar used for the coating process for adhering sugar crystals to the surface include: sucrose, maltose, lactose and mixtures thereof. As the sugar, sucrose is preferably used in the present embodiment.

The material to be impregnated in the present embodiment can be produced, for example, as follows. The sugar used in the coating process is preferably 60 to 80 wt% aqueous solution, more preferably 65 to 75 wt% aqueous solution in the case of sucrose. In the case of maltose and lactose, the aqueous solution is preferably 40 to 60 wt%, more preferably 45 to 55 wt%. The temperature of the aqueous solution is 70-85 ℃. The puffed snack is put into a coating drum heated to 60 to 80 ℃, and the aqueous solution of the sugar (sugar solution) is sprayed. The puffed snack is in a state of sugar solution adhering to the whole surface in the rotating coating drum. The puffed confectionery after the coating treatment is dried at 155 to 175 ℃ for 4 to 5 minutes to obtain a puffed confectionery (impregnated food material) having a sugar layer on the surface. The sugar layer in the material to be impregnated is preferably 12 to 18% by weight, more preferably 13 to 16% by weight.

The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment is a food obtained by impregnating an oil-and-fat confectionery material with an impregnated food material.

The content of the fat-based confectionery material in the impregnated puffed food is preferably 56 to 70% by weight, more preferably 58 to 65% by weight.

Specific examples of the fat or oil confectionery material in the present embodiment include: edible oils and fats such as chocolate material, butter, and artificial butter, and slurry liquid and oily milk oil obtained by dispersing solids (granulated sugar, cacao mass, milk powder, cheese dried product, various spices, etc.) in the above oils and fats. As the fat and oil confectionery material in the present embodiment, a chocolate material is preferable. The chocolate material is chocolate having fluidity in the impregnation treatment step. The chocolate in the present embodiment is not limited by "チョコレート, the height of the abdomen being に Seki する public, for size ", which is a rule established by the japan fair trade commission. That is, various emulsifiers, additives, flavors and the like may be optionally added to a food obtained by suspending finely pulverized edible ingredients, for example, cocoa powder, saccharides, milk solid ingredients and the like, in a matrix formed of a continuous layer of an edible fat or oil which solidifies at a specific temperature or lower. Typical examples are sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, etc.

The viscosity of the fat or oil confectionery material in the present embodiment is preferably 3000 to 15000 cps, and more preferably 6000 to 10000 cps at 34 ℃. When a fat or oil confectionery material having a high viscosity is used, it is preferable to adjust the viscosity to the above range by appropriately adding an emulsifier. The viscosity is measured by a single cylinder type rotational viscometer (type B viscometer) under the conditions of rotor No.6 and rotor rotation speed 4 r.p.m..

The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment can be produced, for example, as follows. The fat snack material is prepared using conventional methods. When the fat-based confectionery material is a chocolate material, for example, a raw material composed of 21.0 wt% of cocoa mass, 32.2 wt% of granulated sugar, 10.0 wt% of milk powder, 7.5 wt% of cocoa butter, 28.0 wt% of vegetable fat, 0.8 wt% of an emulsifier, and 0.5 wt% of a flavor can be used. The impregnated food material was put into a basket, and then the basket was placed in a closed vessel, and the pressure was reduced to 0.008MPa (which represents the absolute pressure when the absolute vacuum is 0 MPa. the same applies to the subsequent pressure), and the basket was immersed in the confectionery material kept at 35 ℃ while maintaining the reduced pressure. The pressure was then slowly released to return to atmospheric pressure and the basket was removed from the fat snack material. Taking out the impregnated food material obtained by the above treatment from a closed container, and removing the greasy snack material adhering to the surface by centrifugation. The resultant was cooled and solidified at 15 ℃ to obtain an impregnated puffed food containing an oil-and-fat snack material (chocolate material). The pressure in the reduced pressure state is an example, and can be applied to, for example, an absolute pressure in the range of 0.005 to 0.07 MPa.

The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment can be produced by the following method in which some steps are added to the above method. The partial step is a step of releasing the pressure from the reduced pressure state to return to atmospheric pressure, then feeding compressed air or the like into the space of the closed container to pressurize the space to 0.3MPa and maintain the space for 0 to 20 seconds while maintaining the state of contact between the impregnated food material and the fat-based confectionery material, and then releasing the pressure to return to atmospheric pressure. In the case of the production method in which the above-mentioned pressing step is added, the treated fat or oil confectionery material can be repeatedly used to carry out the same impregnation step. The pressure in the above-mentioned pressurizing step is an example, and is applicable to a range of an absolute pressure of 0.2 to 1MPa, for example.

Further, the partial steps may be: and releasing the pressure from the reduced pressure state to return to the atmospheric pressure, and then releasing the pressure slowly to return to the atmospheric pressure while maintaining the state in which the basket is embedded in the confectionery material.

The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment may be further processed by a known method such as additional coating or topping (topping) as necessary.

According to the present embodiment, an impregnated puffed food having a novel texture in which both a "crispy" and hard texture and a texture in which a fat-based confectionery is dissolved can be provided, and a method for producing the same can be provided. The impregnated puffed food of the present embodiment has a shape with a thickness of 15mm or more, has a structure in which a sugar coating process is applied to the surface, and the fat-based confectionery material is impregnated deeply into the food material to be impregnated. When the puffed snack of the present embodiment is impregnated with the low melting point fat and oil snack material, the low melting point fat and oil snack which is generally difficult to flow at a high temperature in summer can be tasted even in summer. In the production method of the present embodiment, the sugar layer formed on the surface of the puffed snack suppresses the occurrence of cracks or chips when the fat-based snack material is impregnated into the puffed snack having brittle physical properties, and an impregnated puffed food of a target quality can be produced while maintaining the impregnation efficiency of the fat-based snack material.

Examples

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

EXAMPLE 1 formulation/manufacturing study of expanded snack (1)

In order to obtain a puffed snack having a soft and highly crumbly texture, a ground biscuit is blended with a raw material to produce a puffed snack.

270 parts by weight of granulated sugar, 350 parts by weight of wheat flour, 140 parts by weight of shortening, 240 parts by weight of whole egg, and 1 part by weight of flavor were mixed to obtain a biscuit material. The obtained biscuit material was formed into a sheet shape, and baked in an oven at 180 ℃ for 15 minutes to obtain a sheet-shaped biscuit. The resulting biscuit is crushed to form a biscuit crushed product.

The raw materials described in table 1 were charged into the inlet of a biaxial expansion machine (TEM 50B model manufactured by toshiba corporation), and discharged from a quadrangular nozzle hole of about 9mm × 9mm located at the front end of the expansion machine, to obtain a puffed snack material having a porous cross section of a substantially quadrangular shape and a string shape. The operating conditions of the bulking machine are set forth in Table 2. The obtained puffed snack material is cut into pieces having a thickness of 16 to 20mm, and the pieces are cooled until the temperature of the food becomes room temperature, thereby obtaining a puffed snack having a substantially cubic shape with a thickness of about 16 to 20 mm.

The mouth feel (softness, crumbliness) and appearance of the porous cross section of the resulting puffed snack were evaluated. The "softness" is defined as "S" when the bite is particularly soft when the bite is broken into the mouth, as "a" when the bite is soft, as "B" when the bite is slightly hard, and as "C" when the bite is hard. The term "disintegratability" refers to the case where the oral cavity is easily disintegrated with good brittleness, "S" refers to the case where the oral cavity is easily disintegrated, "a" refers to the case where the oral cavity is easily disintegrated, "B" refers to the case where the oral cavity is slightly difficult to disintegrate, and "C" refers to the case where the oral cavity is difficult to disintegrate. Regarding the preferable degree of the porous cross-sectional appearance, the case where the bubble size is large and the bubble film thickness is thin is referred to as "S", the case where the bubble size is slightly large and the bubble film thickness is slightly thin is referred to as "a", the case where the bubble size is slightly small and the bubble film thickness is slightly thick is referred to as "B", and the case where the bubble size is small and dense and the bubble film thickness is thick is referred to as "C". The evaluation results are shown in table 2. The photographs of the porous cross sections of formulations 1 to 3 and 1 to 5 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively.

[ Table 1]

Formulation (parts by weight)	Formulation 1 to 1	Formulations 1 to 2	Formulations 1 to 3	Formulations 1 to 4	Formulations 1 to 5
						Wheat flour	75.0	75.0	75.0	75.0	75.0
Granulated sugar (granulated sugar)	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0
						Defatted milk powder	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
Salt	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
						Edible oil and fat (refined palm oil)	1.0	1.0	1.5	2.0	4.0
The emulsifier is disclosed in corresponding application 1	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
						Biscuit crumbling material	-	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0

Additionally, note 1: stearic acid monoglyceride (HLB 4.1)

[ Table 2]

Operating conditions	Formulation 1 to 1	Formulations 1 to 2	Formulations 1 to 3	Formulations 1 to 4	Formulations 1 to 5
						Adding water amount (kg/hr)	0.3	0.2	2.5	2.5	2.0
Screw rotation speed (rpm)	260	330	390	400	378
						Internal pressure (kgf/cm)2）	78	68	60	54	55
Temperature of material (. degree.C.)	168	170	167	167	164
						Mouthfeel (softness)	C	B	A	B	C
Mouthfeel (disintegrating)	C	C	A	B	C
						Appearance of porous section	C	B	A	B	C

From the results shown in table 2, the puffed snack obtained by directly puffing (direct puff) a raw material containing wheat flour as a main component, to which 10 parts by weight of the crushed cake and 1.5 to 2.0 parts by weight of the edible oil and fat were added, had a soft and crumbly texture (fig. 1). Further, since the size of the cells is large, the cells have an appearance preferable in terms of impregnation of the fat-based confectionery material. When the amount of the edible fat or oil exceeds 4.0 parts by weight, the puffing is poor and the size becomes small, and the bubbles become small and the texture becomes hard (fig. 2).

Example 2 formulation/manufacturing study of expanded snack (2)

In order to obtain a puffed snack having a soft and crumbly mouthfeel equal to or more than that of the puffed snack obtained in example 1 and having an appearance of large bubble size and thin bubble film, a puffed snack containing ingredients contained in a crushed cracker was produced.

The raw materials described in table 3 were charged into the inlet of a twin-screw extruder, and an expanded snack was produced in the same manner as in example 1. Wherein the operation conditions of the puffing machine are set such that the water addition amount is 3.8kg/hr, the screw rotation speed is 410rpm, and the internal pressure is 52kgf/cm²The material temperature was 170 ℃. The resulting expanded snack was evaluated in the same manner as in example 1. The results are shown in Table 3. The photographs of the porous cross sections of the formulations 2-2 and 2-6 are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively.

[ Table 3]

As a result of table 3, the puffed confectionery obtained by adding 2.4 to 5.71 wt% of the edible oil and fat and 0.49 to 0.52 wt% of the emulsifier to the raw material mainly composed of wheat flour had a crumbly texture and an appearance of large bubble size and thin bubble film (fig. 3 and 4). In particular, a puffed snack produced using a raw material containing 2.4 to 2.91 wt% of shortening as an edible oil and fat, 0.51 wt% of monoglyceride stearate (HLB 4.1) and 0.01 wt% of sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 11) as emulsifiers had good qualities of a soft and crumbly texture and an appearance of large bubble size and thin bubble film (fig. 4).

Test example 1 production of expanded confectionery in which fat-based confectionery material was impregnated

A fat-based confectionery material (chocolate material) was prepared by a conventional method using a raw material consisting of 21.0 wt% of cocoa mass, 32.2 wt% of granulated sugar, 10.0 wt% of milk powder, 7.5 wt% of cocoa butter, 28.0 wt% of vegetable fat, 0.8 wt% of an emulsifier, and 0.5 wt% of a flavor. The puffed snack obtained by the recipes 2 to 6 of example 2 was put into a basket, and then placed in a closed vessel, the pressure was reduced to 0.008MPa, and the basket was submerged in the chocolate material kept at 35 ℃. After submerging, the pressure was slowly released to return to atmospheric pressure and the basket was removed from the chocolate material. The snack obtained by the above treatment was taken out from the closed container, and the chocolate material adhering to the surface was removed by centrifugal separation. Cooling and solidifying at 15 deg.C to obtain puffed food containing chocolate material. The obtained food has chocolate material penetrating into porous puffed snack, and has taste integrated with the puffed snack.

Attempts have been made to produce the food product by repeatedly using the treated chocolate material 2 to 3 times, and as a result, the chocolate material may not be impregnated into the puffed snack. As a result of observing the chocolate material, the chocolate material was mixed with the fine powder derived from the puffed snack, and the viscosity was also higher than that of the chocolate material before the treatment.

Example 3 study on surface coating of expanded snack (study on production of impregnated food Material)

The surface coating process of the puffed confectionery is studied for the purpose of not having a taste feeling that is unified as in the prior art, but having a novel taste that can provide a crispy and hard taste derived from the puffed confectionery and a taste like chocolate dissolution in a well-balanced manner, and further suppressing the generation of fine powder derived from the puffed confectionery in the impregnation step of the fat and oil confectionery material.

An aqueous solution (saccharide solution) of the saccharide shown in Table 4 was prepared (80 ℃). Putting the puffed snack into a coating roller at 70 deg.C, and spraying the above saccharic solution. The puffed snack having the saccharine liquid adhered to all 6 faces of the approximate cube after the above treatment was dried at 170 ℃ for 4 to 5 minutes to prepare a puffed snack (impregnated food material) having a saccharine layer on the surface.

The surface state of the impregnated food material thus obtained was evaluated. Regarding the surface state, the one in which sugar crystallization (graining) was observed was denoted by "a" and the one in which no crystallization was observed was denoted by "C". As the overall evaluation, in addition to the evaluation of the surface state, the sweetness (whether or not a good sweetness can be felt) and the mouthfeel (whether or not a feeling of being chewy can be obtained) are considered, and it is particularly preferable to be "S", preferable to be "a", slightly preferable to be "B", and less preferable to be "C". The results are shown in Table 4.

[ Table 4]

The results in table 4 show that when sucrose, maltose, or lactose is used as the sugar, a sugar layer can be formed on the entire surface of the puffed snack. When sucrose is used, it is preferable to produce the impregnated food material because it has both sweet taste and excellent texture, and it can impart a crispy and hard texture to the puffed snack, and since the solubility of sugar is high, the sugar solution can be easily handled during production.

Of the impregnated food materials thus treated, about 3 to 3.5kg of the food material whose surface was coated with sucrose was put in a plastic bag and sealed, and then sealed in a box. And (3) conveying the box by an express delivery method between Tokyo and Osaka, then unsealing, wherein the number of cracks or gaps generated by the impregnated food materials in the plastic bag is about 0-2. Before and after the transportation, the weight increase of the fine powder in the total weight is low, and the maximum weight is 0.7%.

Example 4 examination of impregnation conditions of fat-based confectionery Material impregnated with food Material (1)

The production conditions of the fat-and-oil-impregnated snack material (chocolate material) obtained in example 3 and having a surface coated with sucrose were examined.

In the same manner as in test example 1, a puffed food containing a chocolate-impregnated material was obtained. Note that the impregnation production method may be performed under the following conditions (conditions 2) in addition to the method of test example 1 (conditions 1). The impregnated food material was put into a basket, and then put into a closed container, the pressure was reduced to 0.008MPa, and the basket was submerged in a chocolate material kept at 35 ℃ while maintaining the reduced pressure. After submergence, the pressure was slowly released to return to atmospheric pressure. The basket is submerged in the chocolate material, and compressed air is fed into the space of the closed container to pressurize the space to 0.3MPa, and the space is maintained for 0-20 seconds. After the pressure was slowly released and returned to atmospheric pressure, the basket was removed from the chocolate material. The impregnated food material obtained by the above treatment is taken out from the closed container, and the chocolate material adhering to the surface is removed by centrifugal separation. Cooling and solidifying at 15 deg.C to obtain puffed food containing chocolate material.

The chocolate material impregnated into the puffed food obtained by the above method is impregnated into the porous impregnated food material. The taste was a novel taste which was different from that obtained in test example 1 and which had both the taste of a crispy and hard puffed snack and the taste of chocolate which slowly dissolved out.

Example 5 examination of impregnation conditions of fat-based confectionery Material impregnated with food Material (2)

The evaluation was made by using a chocolate material mixed with fine powder prepared by pulverizing the material to be impregnated, and manufacturing an impregnated puffed food product in the same manner as in example 4, assuming that the processed chocolate material was repeatedly used for continuous manufacturing.

The puffed snack (food material to be impregnated) obtained in example 3 and having a surface coated with sucrose was pulverized into fine powder (particle size 1.5mm passed). The chocolate material prepared in the same manner as in test example 1 was mixed with 0 to 5 wt% of the above fine powder, and a puffed food containing a chocolate material was produced according to conditions 1 and 2 of example 4. The resulting impregnated puffed food was cut in the direction perpendicular and parallel to the porous cross section, and the inside was observed and evaluated. For the evaluation, "a" indicates a case where the chocolate material is impregnated into the center portion, "B" indicates a case where there is a portion that is not impregnated with chocolate and is only a puffed snack near the center portion, and "C" indicates a case where chocolate is adhered only to the surface portion. The results are shown in Table 5. Fig. 5 shows a cut section of the fine powder of condition 2 at 0 wt% (internal evaluation "a"), and fig. 6 shows a cut section of the fine powder of condition 1 at 5 wt% (internal evaluation "B").

[ Table 5]

According to table 5, when the amount of the fine powder mixed in the chocolate material was 0 wt%, the chocolate material was impregnated into the center of the material to be impregnated under any production conditions (fig. 5). The impregnated puffed food obtained by impregnating the chocolate material only by the reduced pressure treatment (condition 1) showed that the chocolate material was difficult to impregnate inside the puffed snack with an increase in the amount of the fine powder mixed (fig. 6). On the other hand, it was revealed that even when the amount of the fine powder added was increased to 5% by weight, an impregnated puffed food having good quality in which chocolate was impregnated into the puffed confectionery could be obtained, even when the impregnated puffed food obtained by pressure treatment after pressure reduction (condition 2) was obtained.

Example 6 examination of impregnation conditions of fat-based confectionery Material impregnated with food Material (3)

The production conditions of the fat-and-oil-impregnated snack material (chocolate material) obtained in example 3 and having a surface coated with sucrose were further examined. Chocolate material the material prepared in test example 1 was used.

The impregnation production method was performed under the following conditions (condition 3). The method comprises charging the impregnated food material into a basket, placing into a closed container, reducing the pressure to 6kPa, and immersing the basket in a chocolate material maintained at 32-33 deg.C while maintaining the reduced pressure. After submergence, the pressure was slowly released to return to atmospheric pressure. While maintaining the basket submerged in the chocolate material, the pressure was again reduced to 6 kPa. After the pressure was slowly released to return to atmospheric pressure, the basket was removed from the chocolate material. The food material obtained by the above treatment was taken out from the closed container, and the chocolate material adhering to the surface was removed by centrifugal separation. Cooling and solidifying at 15 deg.C to obtain puffed food containing chocolate material.

In the impregnated puffed food obtained by the above method, the chocolate material is impregnated into the porous impregnated food material. The mouthfeel is a novel mouthfeel having two different mouthfeel, namely, the mouthfeel of a crisp and hard puffed snack and the mouthfeel like the slowly dissolved chocolate.

Claims (15)

1. An impregnated puffed food, wherein an oil and fat snack material is impregnated into an impregnated food material comprising a puffed snack whose surface is coated with a sugar layer.

2. The impregnated puffed food according to claim 1, wherein the content of the fat or oil confectionery material in the impregnated puffed food is 56 to 70% by weight.

3. The impregnated puffed food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thickness between porous cross sections of the puffed snack is 15 to 25 mm.

4. The impregnated puffed food according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the puffed snack contains 2.4 to 6.0 wt% of an edible oil or fat and 0.4 to 0.6 wt% of an emulsifier.

5. The impregnated puffed food according to claim 4, wherein the emulsifier is a higher fatty acid monoglyceride having an HLB of 4.0 to 5.0 and/or a sucrose fatty acid ester having an HLB of 10 to 12.

6. The impregnated puffed food according to claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the edible oil or fat is palm oil, palm kernel oil, shortening, or a mixture thereof.

7. The impregnated puffed food according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the sugar layer contains sucrose, maltose, lactose, or a mixture thereof.

8. The impregnated puffed food according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the viscosity of the fat or oil snack material is 3000 to 15000 cps at 34 ℃.

9. The impregnated puffed food according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the fat-based snack material is chocolate.

10. A method for producing an impregnated puffed food, comprising the following steps (a) to (c):

(a) a step of obtaining a puffed snack by discharging a raw material containing 40 to 80 wt% of wheat flour, 2.4 to 6.0 wt% of an edible oil or fat, and 0.4 to 0.6 wt% of an emulsifier by a puffing machine,

(b) a step of spraying an aqueous solution containing at least one of sucrose, maltose and lactose onto the puffed snack, and then drying the same to obtain an impregnated food material, and then,

(c) and a step of impregnating the material to be impregnated with the fatty confectionery material.

11. The production method according to claim 10, wherein the aqueous solution is 60 to 80 wt% sucrose, 40 to 60 wt% maltose, or 40 to 60 wt% lactose.

12. The production method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) and a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure.

13. The production method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure,

(c2) and a step wherein the impregnated food material is placed under pressure in a closed container while maintaining the state of being covered with the fat-based confectionery material, and then returned to atmospheric pressure.

14. The production method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the step (c) includes:

(c1) a step of covering the impregnated food material with the fat-based confectionery material in a closed container under reduced pressure while maintaining the reduced pressure, and then returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure,

(c3) and a step wherein the impregnated food material is placed again under reduced pressure in the closed container while maintaining the state of being covered with the fat-based confectionery material, and then returned to atmospheric pressure.

15. An impregnated puffed food obtained by the method according to any one of claims 10 to 14.